In the aftermath of the exit of TravelSpan from the Guyana market, Works Minister Robeson Benn has played up the airlift capacity into Guyana.
His Ministry issued the following press release today:
Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn, said that this year offers more capacity in terms of carriers and seat availability hence the additional competition will lead to better prices for the travelling public.
“Over the years we have worked diligently to ensure additional airlift into and out of Guyana thus offering the passengers more choice of carriers to different destinations. We have been successful in that mission since during the last year we have seen new services being offered by Conviasa, Insel Air, COPA Airlines and Fly Jamaica. This sort of achievement within such a short period of time is unprecedented in the aviation industry.”
Depending on their final destination, passengers wishing to travel to the United States of America can now do so via Caribbean Airlines (CAL), COPA Airlines, Insel Air, Suriname Airways (SLM) and Fly Jamaica.
COPA, Fly Jamaica and Caribbean Airlines offer services to New York while SLM, COPA and CAL offer services Miami.
In the case of Travel Span, Minister Benn said that the MPW is in contact with its management and has been assured that all passengers with tickets will be fully refunded. Travel Span recently exited the market as a result of issues with is carrier.
“I wish to remind that the Government of Guyana has always had an interest in protecting the consumer and for this reason we put in place an escrow account where new non-scheduled carriers are required to deposit monies which can be used to refund passengers if the airline suspends their operations.”
The Ministry continues to pursue additional airlift to Guyana and only last week two of its senior officials attended the World Routes Conference where meetings were held with several legacy and low cost carriers who expressed an interest in offering services to the North American and European markets.
“There is no doubt that Guyana is an attractive market for some of these carriers since a large number of Guyanese live in the Diaspora in North America and the United Kingdom. The fact that our economy has shown positive growth in the last eight years is an added bonus since there is a direct link between passenger growth and positive GDP in any market,” Minister Benn stated
The airport expansion project, the Minister added, is a prime selling point for potential investors.
“I am therefore calling on Mr. Joseph Harmon and my colleagues in the opposition to support Government in its effort to attract these new carriers by simply embracing our infrastructure developmental plan. The current runway and terminal do not have the capacity to accommodate long haul carriers from Europe and more economical aircraft to North America, and this is hampering our negotiations with these carriers.”
Minister Benn reiterated that “the aviation sector has grown by leaps and bounds in the past few years. There is still room for growth if we can set aside partisan politics and do what is right for Guyana and its people.”
